JOHANNESBURG, 3 August (Reuters) – South Africa’s anti-corruption control agency said Monday that it was investigating irregularities in government tenders over the coronavirus crisis.
Ombudsman investigations occur after the Special Investigation Unit introduced a separate investigation into non-public apparatus tenders (PPE) in Gauteng Province, the economic heart of the country.
South Africa has recorded more than one million cases of COVID-19, the highest on the African continent, and the number of infections is progressing rapidly.
In recent weeks, local media has overflowed with accusations that politically linked Americans have benefited from government contracts of goods and mobilized to involve the spread of COVID-19. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesman and a senior gauteng fitness officer had taken time off after being embroiled in the scandals.
The Ombudsman said in a statement that he was investigating a tender for a quarantine camp in Mpumalanga province, an accusation that KwaZulu-Natal province had purchased PPE at exaggerated prices, and an accusation that it was owned by a shelter used as a quarantine site in Eastern Cape Province. through an Array government official among other investigations.
It also reviews court cases that have been denied COVID-19 grants on unreasonable grounds.
Ramaphosa said Monday in a weekly newsletter sent to the country that families and friends of politicians and officials who have won contracts with the state have contributed to the belief of nepotism and abuse.
He said his government would allow the public budget to “disappear into a black hole of corruption.”
The protector of citizen Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who heads the anti-corruption control body, has a debatable figure in a series of court rulings criticizing her conduct of primary investigations.
Mkhwebane supporters say she has held senior officials, Ramaphosa, accountable. His critics say he targeted Ramaphosa and his close allies on behalf of a ruling faction of the African National Congress (ANC) that is more aligned with former President Jacob Zuma.
Mkhwebane denies that his investigations are selective or part of an FTA factional war. His predecessor helped spread state corruption during the Zuma decade in power.
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